Laurent Dacheux

Trained as a pharmacist, Laurent Dacheux quickly moved into research, through the completion of a PhD in virology which focused on the study of the antibody response in long-term asymptomatic HIV patients.

During his PhD, he had the opportunity to follow the fundamental virology courses at the Institut Pasteur in Paris, which allowed him to apply and be recruited by the Institut as deputy manager of the national reference center for rabies in June 2004.

After more than 20 years in this position, in mid-October 2023 he joined the Environment and Infectious Risks unit, still at the Institut Pasteur, as a researcher. Within this unit, he also serves as deputy head of the Laboratory for Urgent Response to Biological Threats (CIBU).

His current duties are therefore divided between public health and research activities. In terms of public health, these activities focus on microbiological diagnosis in an ISO 15189 quality environment, mainly targeting threat agents and highly pathogenic or emerging microorganisms, organising and taking part in the CIBU’s 24/7 microbiological on-call service, developing and deploying the CIBU’s mobile laboratory within the Rapide Response Mobile Laboratory (RRML) of the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN) – Diagnostic Surge Capacity network, etc.

In terms of research activities, his main focus is on the study of zoonotic viruses (including lyssaviruses, coronaviruses, filoviruses, henipaviruses, poxviruses, etc.), from their detection using technological development (specific or multiplex serological tools, targeted or broad-spectrum molecular techniques, etc.) to the study of their infection mechanisms at the individual or cellular level (development of the most suitable cell lines). His main animal reservoir of interest is the bat, more recently extended to micromammals or rodents.

Another aspect of his research focuses on biosecurity aspects, in particular through the development of systems enabling both the containment and study of potentially infectious materials, whether of terrestrial or extraterrestrial origin, in collaboration with the CNES (French National Centre for Space Studies).